感動詞. A word or phrase, or exclamation, with no particular grammatical relation to a sentence.
Questions tagged [interjections]
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Usage of すみません (sumimasen) versus ごめんなさい (gomen'nasai)
There are several situations in which one of these words (phrases?) should be used but there's not usually a 1:1 mapping between any two languages.
Get somebody's permission. English: "excuse me", "I beg your pardon"; Spanish: "disculpe"
Getting…
hippietrail
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What does やれ{HL}やれ{HL} "yare yare" mean?
I would like to know what the meaning of the expression やれ{HL}やれ{HL} Yare Yare is? I hear it often said in anime.
some people said "that yare yare is another japanese onomatopoeia. Kind of like pera pera, gira gira, goro goro, etc.
some others…
Educ
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Is こら a lot more rude than ほら?
From early on, I've used こら and ほら somewhat interchangeably. They both mean "hey!"
I picked them up from friends early on without really having a sense of the difference.
Now, after some time, I've come to understand that ほら is simply "hey!", as in…
Questioner
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Is there a difference between ほんとう (hontō) and ほんとうに (hontō-ni) when used alone as interjection or question?
As the equivalent of Enlgish "Oh really?" / "Yes really." as lone utterances I seem to hear both "本当" (hontō) and "本当に" (hontō-ni) in Japanese - is there a difference?
It seems that hontō is a noun and -ni changes it into an adverb but that this…
hippietrail
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What is that thing yelled in Japanese when starting something?
When starting some activity, I've heard something like 'Se..inou... ' (I'm not sure what are the specific words for this). The context for this word I'd think is pretty much the same as when saying 1,2,3 start! in English.
Actually, is it just some…
wallyqs
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Where does 「えっと」 come from?
I wanted to describe that 「えっと」 was similar to "Ummm" in English when someone is trying to think about what they are going to say, but I wasn't even sure if that was correct. Is that just a generalization? What does 「えっと」actually come from? Can it…
Chris
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How to invoke God/spirits in Japanese
No, this is not about any Buddhist chant or mantra that can be used to call forth Japanese gods or heavenly spirits, but rather about any specialized words or interjections that attract attention of the God/spirits that we want to communicate with.…
Lukman
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What is an expression that means "of course!" as if suddenly realizing something?
I know that もちろん is often used to mean something like "of course (you may)" or even "naturally, ..." However, what would an equivalent expression be for "of course!", used as an interjection as a result of sudden realization or comprehension? For…
user1316
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どれ as an attribute
I found this sentence and I wonder whether I understand it correctly:
どれ腹の傷をおみせ、薬草をぬってあげよう。
The どれ there looks to me like “whichever” or “all”, so I’d get the sentence as “Let me look at all the wounds on your belly…” However I could not find a…
Glutexo
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Is the scream "gya" masculine and "kya" feminine?
I don't speak Japanese, but I notice in some manga (like Mr. Fullswing for example), male characters tend to scream "gya" or "guwa" while female characters tend to scream "kya".
Is it true that "gya" sounds masculine and "kya" sounds feminine? If it…
Vun-Hugh Vaw
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Expressions of surprise おや あれ あら
There seem to be three very similar expressions of surprise - おや, あれ, and あら. Is there much particular difference? So far I've gathered that あれ is almost always genuine surprise, whereas あら and おや can express more broad ranges of emotion, and that…
Angelos
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Difference between まあ and さあ
Both さあ and まあ seem to be used as interjections that mean something like "well", "hm", et cetera (or perhaps just as filler words). Is there any difference in meaning between them?
(Differences I have noticed are is that まあ also seems to be a female…
Malper
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Reading of 笑 in the meaning of lol/heh
What is the reading of 笑 when used as a “lol” or “heh” interjection? Is it わらい or something shorter?
Is the reading the same when written as “w”? What if it’s repeated like 笑笑 or wwww?
Glutexo
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In real life, do Japanese speakers exclaim things like 熱っ！ or 痛たた… or 寒！?
In anime and Japanese television and so forth, I've noticed that people confronted with a sudden undesired stimulus, like heat or pain or cold, will often utter something like 熱っ【あつっ】！ or 痛たた【いたたた】… or 寒【さむ】！, all of which follow the pattern of…
senshin
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Meaning of ぎゃほ ?
What does the interjection ぎゃほ mean?
Context:
A: We are mentioned in (famous newspaper)
B: ぎゃほ！ かんどう＝＝＝＝３３３
Does it have the meaning of かんどう ? Or is it surprise, or something else?
Nicolas Raoul
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